Startup Scouts Program Wants To Nurture Early-Stage Entrepreneurs In Lebanon And Beyond Aiming to build positive entrepreneurial mindsets among its youth population, Lebanon has launched a national initiative called the Startup Scouts.

In an economy where access to basic infrastructure is restricted by various challenges, there are two likely responses from the nation's youth- they can either choose to believe that nothing will change, or be advocates for the mantra that together, change can be achieved. Recognizing this sentiment among its own population, and aiming to build positive entrepreneurial mindsets among its youth, Lebanon has launched a national initiative called the Startup Scouts.

Structured to be a training and support program for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs up to the age of 25, the program is open to innovators across Lebanon (and beyond), who want to create a solution for a problem they care about deeply. Organized by AltCity Impact and Pitchworthy, in strategic partnership with Summer of Innovation initiative and Alfa, Startup Scouts (according to its website) is backed by a team with "10 years of experience as active trainers and leaders in the startup ecosystem in Lebanon and EuroMENA."

Believing that youth across Lebanon "deserve the same right to high quality entrepreneurship education and support as someone in the city of Beirut, and that everyone across the MENA region deserve the same high quality entrepreneurship education and support as someone in London, Boston, or Silicon Valley," the program wants to create a platform to make the aforementioned statement a reality. As for its key mission, a note on the initiative reads: "The main emphasis of the program is to help young people across Lebanon get help with those critical foundations of their startups, and then to help them access other next stage opportunities, funding, and support."

Focused on spurring innovation to help solve key challenges facing Lebanon, the region, and the world, the program aims to support solutions in sectors including (but not limited to) education, healthcare, sustainability, and smart governance, among others. The initiative declares that it can help aspiring entrepreneurs in learning the critical technical and soft skills, can connect them to mentors, help them join a "community of change makers," and also provide access to tools to scale their business.

Launched on July 9 in Lebanon, in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Startup Scouts has an Open House session scheduled from July 16 to July 26 to provide those interested with more information on the program, and the applications to the training and support program close on July 28.

For more details on the program timeline, and the benefits you can expect from joining, visit the official page here.

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